Byzantine dominion was however
short-lived. In 568 a new Barbarian invasion brought the
Lombards of Alboin to Italy. They reached as far as the
southern regions and built a large kingdom, with its capital at
Pavia, which was to last for over two hundred years (774). This
put an end to the political and territorial unity that the country
had preserved thus far. In fact, alongside the Lombards the
temporal power of the church began to take shape. It acquired the
Exarchate and the Pentapolis, former Byzantine territory
corresponding to today's Marche and eastern Emilia, obtained from
the Lombards themselves after their conversion to christianity.
Meanwhile, the island and both extremities of the peninsula,
Calabria (modern Puglia) and Bruttia (modern Calabria), remained
under Byzantium.

Italy was now incapable of
taking an independent political initiative and after the Lombards
had to submit to another European people. The Franks
descended into Italy to support the pope against the Lombards.
With the victory of Charlemagne over the Lombard Desiderius,
Italy was to remain for over two centuries (774) in the orbit of
the Carolingian dynasty, which had substituted the Lombards in the
Kingdom of Italy. It was, however, a vassal of the Holy Roman
Empire in the context of which it co-existed with the Patrimony of
St. Peter, which was to become the future Papal States. The
Lombards retained the Duchy of Benevento, which was transformed
into a principality and maintained considerable independence until
the beginning of the 11C when it provided the origins for the
principalities of Salerno and Capua.

In the meantime, there occurred
the Arab expansion throughout the Mediterranean and Italy
herself was involved. During the 9C, in fact (827-902), Sicily
fell entirely into Saracen hands and became the base for raids
along the coasts or even into the interior of the Italian
peninsula. Still in the South of Italy, there began to appear in
this period the first independent city-states with the formation
of independent signorie such as at Naples, Amalfi and Gaeta, which
because of their position on the sea were able to develop a
mercantile economy. These are the first examples of the free
communes that were to flourish slightly later in Central-Northern
Italy. In Southern Italy instead they were to be suffocated after
a brief season by the arrival, towards the middle of the 11C, of
another conquering northern people.

The
Normans were professional soldiers and rapidly took control of
all Southern Italy, Sicily included. Their rule lasted for almost
two centuries, from 1029 (acquisition of Aversa) to 1220, which
was the year of Frederick II of Hohenstaufen's accession to the
Sicilian throne.